The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
God charges the shepherds of Israel not as equals but as under-shepherds accountable to Him, the great Shepherd. Their station and power cannot excuse them from reproof or shield them from judgment if they break faith; indeed, their dignity makes their betrayal of trust the graver sin.
AI summary
Commenting on Ezekiel 34:1-6
The shepherds took no care of the weak and infirm, neither did they direct the spiritually sick to the great Physician, nor restore those whose consciences were wounded, nor reclaim those seduced by false teachers, nor seek out the lost who perished for want of knowledge. Instead they ruled in arbitrary tyranny, lording it over God's heritage.
AI summary
Those driven into exile by God's judgment needed to be brought back, yet the rulers, guilty chiefly because they ought to have checked the evil, promoted it instead. They inflicted Egyptian bondage on the flock; what the law forbade, they did.
AI summary